Fish food and method of making



Sept. 19, 1944. R, D. EISAMAN FISH FOOD AND METHOD OF MAKING 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 23, 1940 INVENTOR Fog! ,fl BY A TTORNEY Sept. 19, 19.44, R. D; EISAMAN FISH FOOD AND METHOD OF MAKING 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 23, 1940 u ulu ulum' n I BY W I :TTORNEY- INVENTOR Patented S ept. 19,1944

' STATES PAT NT oFFicEi j 1..... -B ,oy D Eisaman, .Oak Park, 111;, assignoruto' I Jasper Foods, Newport,.Mich., a partnership...

composed of Roy D. Eisaman, Paul F. Seibold, and Arthur C. Johnson 7 Application February 23,1940, SerialNoL320345:- '5 cla m rel. 99 -2) My inventionrelatesto fish foods,*andparticularlyto a, method and means" for manufacturing a fish food 'frompredetermined ingredients and in'such'manner as to fio'at uponthe'water:

- The present'invention' contemplates the man 1 The kneaded-"mixtureis forced through extruding dies which form hollow tubes which are passed through a cut-off andsea-ling mechanism to form hollow sealed 'pelletswhich are dried and which will float upon water-because of the'sealed hol low interior. It "was found in practice that the ingredients themselves form the binder toretain the particles together; andfthat the pellets when dried will" float upon" 1;h"e..wat;e'1' for an hour or more before'disintegrating. It is to be understood that suitable binders suchas dextrine and the like may be employed-to insure a greater time of floatingof the particles, and that it is within the purview of my invention to coat the exterior surface with a:water;resistant substance sothat the pellets will: float indefinitely. r

Accordingly,1the main objects of my invention are; to provide a fish food .which floats; to provide a manufactured foodv having a hollow interior sealed at the ends to form a floating pellet of food materials which. :form. the binder. forretaining the materialsin-pelletform; to form a, floating pellet. in the nature of fish food from a plurality of ingredients which provides a balance of proteins, fats, amino acids. and fat soluble vitamins; to extrude :a food substance from dies forming continuous hollow tubes which-are cut off inpredetermined lengthsand sealed at the ends to form pellets havingjhollow interiors; and in generaLtoprovidea food for i'ish from balanced ingredients which are thoroughly mixed, kneaded and extruded: from. dies and formed into pellets which float; g

' Other objects and features ofynovelty of my invention will-be either specifically pointed out or will become apparent whenreferring, for a better understanding. of my invention, to the following descriptiontakenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein;

Figure 1 is a diagrammatical viewof the ma-.

chinery employed to practicemy invention;

' Fig. 2'is' an enlarged sectional viewof the ex:

truding, cut-off and sealingdevices illustrated inFig'. 1; Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the structure illustrated in Fig; 2,'taken' on the line 33 thereof;

. j 1 Percent Wheat puffs 15 Rice pufis '7 Bran flakes 5 Corn flakes 5 soybeanmea'l l0; Dehydrated tomato pi11 i 10 Cotton seed meal I0 Cheese i 2 /2 Egg shell; r 10 Dehydrated bread crumbsa 10 Salmon egg meal -r "2% Herring fish meal i r; r 2 Shrimp meal- 2 Crab meal 2 Meat -scrap '5 Dried yeast M Vitamelk Fig.4 is a sectional view of the structure illustrated in Fig. 2, taken on th'e line fife-'4' thereof; Fig. 5 is a view of structure similar to that 'shownin Fig. 2, showing a modified iormthereof;

Fig. 6 is an end view of the structure illustrated in Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged sectional view 'off blades illustrated in'Fig..5'; 1 a Fig. 8 is a. perspective view'of one of the pellets after being severedin'the cut-off mechanism. While various ingredients might be. employed in the dough to be formed into the'floatingfpell'ets which constitutes one part of my inventiveeom cept, I prefer to employ certain "types of ingredients which form a balanced food ration. 'Such foods as wheat,rice, bran, corn,'soybean meal, tomato pulp, cheese, eggshell, bread crumbs, salmon egg meal, shrimp meal, meat'scrap and the like are employed for one. purpose or another to produce a balance olf'p'roteins; fats; amino acids'andfat soluble vitamins. A spec'i'fi cfiood which was compounded contained thefollowing ingredients.

of the cutthe following ingredients.

' The vitamelk is a prepared product made from.

Wheat germ meal" Corngerm meal 1 O; P. linseedmeal De drat d s inach i "Dehydratedjtom'ato I It is to be understood .thatall of" the ingredients in. the proportions set-forth zneed' not' be utilized and that the variousproportions may be changed. It is also within the purview. .Of my invention to include drugs among the ingredients, for medicinal purposes. Iodine, for example, may be added Dehydrated orangel in foods for fresh water fish. The particular form and method of manufacture of food lends itself very readilyto the inclusion}v of drugs for medicinal or other purposes.- Theihgredients can be procured in the open market in cooked form so that it is only necessary to grind the various substances to proper size, and after mixing, knead them to form a stiff dough.

In Fig. 1, I have illustrated a grinder ID in.

which the various ingredientsmaybe ground to proper size. The various ingredients are then disposed in a mixer H where they are thoroughly ,doughadvances from the dies. "rotor spring mounted, the engagement of the bars occurs forwardly of on-center position so that a wiping action occurs between the line of abut- =me 'nt therebetween. The severing of the pellets is added by the advancement of the bars to ondistributed. Water is added and the mixture is transferred to a kneading machine |2 in which it is worked to a dough of proper consistency with the ingredients perfectly distributed to provide, a homogeneou'simass. The dough is then placed in the extruding chamber l3 where it is forcedfthrou'gh a plurality of dies H and advanced'through a sealing and cut-off device l5 to form the food pellets l6. 'The dies produce tubular lengths of the extruded material which, when cut 011 are sealed and formedinto pellets having a hollow interiorwhich are passed through a drying oven I8 to' be thoroughlyidried Referring more particularly to Figs 2, 3, and 4, the extruding chamber [3 embodies a cylinder l9 having a ram head 2| therein which is driven by a threaded gear 22 operating on a lead screw 23 which is secured to the ram head. The cylinder I9 is provided with'annular shoulders 24 nested ingrooves 25 in a cradle 26. Hinged semi-cylindrical bands 21 extend abouttheupper half of the cylinder l9 and are anchored by suitable means to the cradle26, as by thumb nuts 28. After the ram 2| is retracted, the cylinder may bev removed for repairorfor refilling. V

The dough, as received from the kneader I2, is packed within the cylinder l9 and the ram head 2| is moved forwardly as the leadscrew is advanced by the'g'ear 22'. W the cylinder contains a head 29 having a plue rality of apertures 3| therein in which hardened die bushings 32 are inserted and retained. by a shoulder 33. Rods 34 extend within the bushings 32 being maintained in position on cross bars, 35

which are'mounted on a frame 35 s d The forward end of digestion. Y

The cut-off and sealing mechanism embodies a pair of rotors 38 and 39 mounted on shafts 4|,

and 42, respectively, which are 'journalled in slides 43 which are spring-pressed. toward each; other by springs 44. The shaft 42 is drivenby: a worm wheel 45 which drives through a gear 46 and a gear 41 to drive the shaft 4| so that the rotors38 and 39 operate in synchronism.

The guide 43, adjacent to the worm 45 ,supports a bracket 48 which forms a bearing, for a shaft 5| on which a worm is supported in, mesh with The shaft 5| is drivendrivesthe speed reducer 53 to drive the ram and";

cut-01f mechanism in 'synchronism. r The rotors 38 and 39' are provided with a pluvidual vertical movement.

center and beyond the on-center positions. The bars fold the walls of the tubes onto each other and thereby seal the ends of the pellets. Through cut-off mechanism synchronized with the mechanism'for driving thelram the cut-off mechanism willremaintimed with the extrusion of the dough irrespective of the speed at which the extrusion occurs.

The pellets I6 fall into a trough 58 on to a belt 59 which is slowly advanced through the oven Is to produce the drying of the pellets. As pointed out hereinabove, the ingredients provide the necessary binder to hold the particles together. Additional substances may be added to form a more permanent binder. The exterior of the pellets may also be coated with a suitable substance impervious to water, to prevent the disintegration of the food. particles when floating on the water. Such substances are preferably foods, or of such nature as to be harmless to In Figs. 5, 6, and 7, I have illustrated a reciprocating type of. cut-off mechanism embodying a frametl having anupperslidebar B2 and a bottom slide bar 63 -mounted therein for indi- The slide bars are provided with blades 64 and fii respectively, illustrated more clearly in Fig. -'l. A longitudinallyextending notch 66 may be provided in the blade 65 and a teat 61 formed on the blade 64 which enters the notch 66 to provide .a positive cut-off action which severs a pellet l6 and closes its ends. A shaft 68, mounted in the frame 64, is driven by a worm wheel 69 from the worm 49. Links are pivoted to the slide bars 62 and to the gear 69 and a plate 12 on opposite sides of the frame in 'eccentricrelation to produce a reciprocating movement to the cross slide. Cams 13 are mounted on the shaft in engagement with cam rings -14 for reciprocating the slide 63; A plate 16 bridgesthespace between the front of the dies l4 and the blades 64 and 65' and extends therebeyond at 11. An additional plate 18 is mounted above the plate 16 providing a space between which the extruded material passes. As the blades 64 and 65 reciprocated, the plates 16 and 18 strip the tubular material from the blades and it is at all times free to pass therebetween when the blades are separated. The frame may be oscillated to have the'blades advance with the tubular material during the cutting and sealing operation. The'driving of thegear 49 occurs in timed relation with the advancement of the ram 2| and the-length of the pellets is thereby controlled. This length may be changed through the changing of the worm set 49'and 69 to provide a difference in the time of operation of the blades. The pellet is illustrated in Fig. 8 as having a wall 19 of predetermined thickness and a hollow interior 8| with the ends 82 sealed so that after drying the pellet will float upon water.

The fish food manufactured from the materials above set forth provides a balanced food havin ingredients selected for their particular food values and manufactured in the manner above set forth so that the food floats upon water. This prevents the sinking of foods which ar heavier than water which contaminated the water in the pool, as well as the bottom of the pool, and large aquariums. By floating the food so that it can be picked up by the fish before it disintegrates and sinks, this contamination is avoided. The further advantage of this type of food resides in the medication which may be incorporated in the food when manufactured. The particular compounding of food and the floating of such food is a material advancement in the art over any foods heretofore employed in fish hatcheries, large aquariums, or employed by large or small scale users. I

While I have described the floating pellets as being useful for fish food, I do not wish to be limited to this application, as certain food manufactured for consumption by animals, as well as for human consumption, could be made to float. I have in mind, breakfast food, noodles and the like, made of one or more ingredient which would float on broth, milk or other liquid.

While I have described and illustrated several embodiments of my invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes, omissions, additions, and substitutions may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, as set forth in the accompanying claims.

What I claim is:

1. A fish food made from a plurality of ingredients which, when combined and dried, is denser than the water it displaces so that the mixture would sink, and which is mechanically formed into pellets having a hollow interior causing the pellets to float.

2. A fish food made of screened ingredients formed into hollow particles by a mechanical process which causes the particles to float.

3. A fish food made from a plurality of prepared meals which are mechanically compacted into pellets having a hollow interior which causes the pellets to float.

4. A fish food made from a plurality of prepared meals which have been sifted through a fine mesh screen, thoroughly mixed, and containing at least one ingredient having medicinal properties, which is mechanically compacted into pellets having a hollow interior which causes the pellets to float.

5. A fish food pellet made of meals containing adhesive properties when moistened and kneaded and forming compacted walls of the hollow pellet which floats and all of which contains nutritional and medicinal properties. Q

ROY D. EISAMAN. 

